Tempus Fugit
by Dashiell Mirai
Summary: On the station-cities of Clockhaven and Emberguard, the threads of fate are unraveling, entwining, and sometimes, snapping. A mercenary is sent by Hypnos to arrest Cider for theft. But when she is falsely accused of a crime, she has to stay in Clockhaven with Cider, Chronos, and Zephyr. Undertronic fic, please gib breadsticks.
1. In the Halls of Hypnos

The palatial home of Hypnos was, to say the least, impressive. It was modern and angular, yet seemed regal all the same.

Ananke Nilos, however, did not seem cowed.

Her steel-tipped footsteps echoed off the polished hypersteel walls, and her head was held high, her gaze ahead and impartial. The Senghi that escorted her kept his posture the same as hers, back straight as a ramrod.

They came to a junction in the hallway, and stepped into the throne room. The great hall was simplistic, yet, in a strange way, ornate.

There were two octagonal columns on either side of the throne, each one sheathed in a burnished mirror. As they passed by, Ananke could see her own face, blue deep-set eyes like a brilliant sky, peering out from either side of a hawkish, triangular nose.

The columns framed the throne, a simple steel chair wrought with iron vines. Upon it sat a majestic Astral in a grey cloak, embroidered with silver vines and leaves. A shining coronet dripped black pearls onto his forehead.

Ananke and the Senghi guard fell to one knee, though she kept her gaze up, while he directed his down. The guard proclaimed, "I present Ananke Nilos!"

His steel eyes serene, Hypnos bid them rise.

Ananke folded her hands into the wide sleeves of her box-shouldered, high-collared coat. "You ask for my service, Hangu?" Her voice sounded like sandpaper on gravel, echoing in the cavernous room.

He gave an imperceptible nod. "Correct." He slowly began to pace around his dais. "It has come to my attention that, despite your... origins, your devotion to justice is unparalleled in all of Emberguard."

Ananke stayed impassive. "I am ill-deserving of such praise, however, I will do my best to fulfill whatever duty you expect of me."

The high lord looked down at her with a hint of curiosity in his gaze, as if no-one has ever rejected praise from him before. "An admirable prospect, Nilos-Venandi."

Ananke willed herself not to flinch at the use of her surname by such a powerful Astral. Generally speaking, "Nilos" was an insulting term.

It meant "Less Than Nothing".

She met his gaze. "What is it that you have called me here to do?"

He turned and picked up a holo-projector, the little black cube throwing light up above his palm. "One week and three days past, a man evaded our security systems, assaulted a well-known Stylist, and escaped with six of our finest synths."

The light emitted by the projector morphed into the image of a raven-haired man with a soul patch and green-and-violet nekomimi, wearing a cocky half-grin like a cat who'd just eaten the neighbor's pet bird.

"This is the perpetrator, a Voc by the name of Ciderus Lycaon. He was assisted in his robbery by a Stylist named..."

He paused to pull up another billet of text.

"Sylphy. He proceeded escaped in a podship piloted by another Voc, Zephyros Demonax."

Silently, Ananke unlatched her datalink from around her wrist and offered it to the Senghi guard. He took it and plugged it into a terminal in the wall.

"I will offer a reward of 10,000 credits in return for Lycaon, and 2,000 each for the other two. However, the capture of Lycaon-Voc, unlike his companions, is non-negotiable once the contract is signed."

He handed her a document tablet.

She handed it back to him, her expression set.

"Take your contract, and take your money. I don't need either. I will travel to Clockhaven, capture Lycaon-Voc, and if possible, Sylphy-Fidelias and Demonax-Voc."

Hypnos furrowed his brow concernedly.

"Peace, Nilos-Venandi. At the very least, allow me to provide you with transport."

She bowed slightly.

"As you wish, Hangu."

Outwardly, Ananke was the very picture of calm. But on the inside, her mind was processing the information from her dataport, flicking through calculations, records, and lines of thought like the pages of a zoetrope. Once she was out of Hypnos' presence, she allowed herself just the _slightest_ of smiles.


	2. Meanwhile

"I can't believe you!"

Chronos slammed his fist on the wall, causing both Zephyr and the liquor bottles on the low table to jump about a metre. Cider looked calm, but a slight crease had appeared between his brows.

"Chronos, this isn't a time to freak out. We've got to stay calm-"

"Calm? Calm?!"

The blonde Voc had gone quite red in the face, his voice punctuating like a gunshot off the walls of the dining room.

"You're going to go to jail, Cider! And not like all those other times, either, where you could just bribe the bailiff and he'd let you go. You stole from the court musician of _Hypnos_ , Cider, Hypnos! He'll send a bounty hunter after you!"

The wall took another pounding, and Zephyr's wide green eyes went wider. Cider took on an even more urgent tone.

"Chronos, stop it. You're scaring Zeph."

He scoffed, but lowered his tone anyway.

"And I suppose you had his well-being in mind when you convinced him to pilot that ship for you? You'd better pray nobody saw him, because if they do, I'll give you over to the bounty hunter rather than send him and Sylphy to jail."

Cider fiddled with his necklace nervously, clacking the purple-and-green dice together. "Look, I know what I did isn't exactly legal, but it's for a good cause."

"A good cause? You call paying off your gambling debt a _good cause_?"

Chronos ran his hand through his hair, before his fingers caught on a mass of tangles and he gave up. "We can fix this. But whatever happens, Zephyr isn't going to jail. _You_ might, but he isn't. Got that?"

Cider's nervous energy had shifted from his necklace to a button on his cuff. "Fine. But if there's any option that's not being locked up in some hell-hole in Emberguard, I'll take it."

A second's awkward silence passed, but then Shara poked her head into the small dining room. "Guys? What's all the yelling about?"

Sylphy padded in after her, saw the looks on their faces, and the visible dent in the wall, and a frown knitted her little kitty brow. "I take it he found out, Cider?"

The midnight-haired voc sighed. "I told him."

"Why'd you tell him?"

"Well, he would have found out on his own! Either that, or Zeph would have let it slip."

Shara, growing increasingly impatient and confused, raised her voice. "Listen, is anyone going to tell me what's going on here?"

The room fell silent. Then, it fell into chaos. Everyone was speaking over each other, Zephyr's apologies and Chronos' waffling and Cider's half-truths and Sylphy's contradictions.

"Enough!"

Shara coughed awkwardly into the sudden quiet.

"Just, uh, one at a time, please. Cider, you first."

He got up, the ratty old armchair squeaking like a mouse. "Well, uh, the truth is, so I owe some people a little money, yes?"

Chronos glared at him.

"Ok, a lot of money. So I, uh, located, shall we say, some valuable merchandise to pay it off."

Shara raised her eyebrows.

"Tell the truth, Cider. What did you steal?"

"Six VSTs."

"From who?"

He let out a shuddering sigh.

"Electro Lyre."

Shara's eyes widened in shock. "Electro Lyre? But she's Hypnos' personal favorite!"

Chronos cocked a sarcastic eyebrow at her. "

 _Now_ do you understand all the shouting?"

She shot a glare at him. "Now is not the time, Chronos! He's going to send a bounty hunter after us."

She sank down onto the sofa, ignoring the stuffing that spilled out of the side.

"What we need is a plan."


End file.
